Thursday, March 3, 2016

Another #Romance #EPublisher Closes #SamhainPublishing

News that has sent shockwaves across the romance publishing and writing community, Samhain Publishing has announced that it will cease operations soon.

I remember when the e-publisher first began their operations. They took off like a rocket and were soon hitting best seller status for their authors on Fictionwise- yes it has been that long and the burgeoning Amazon--which was a lot back then because it took practically a miracle to get your book listed with them! Anyways according to this article from Publisher's Weekly- which I will repost a portion of below-- declining sales and the dreaded Amazon had a lot to do with their decision to close.

We are the Amazon of the Borg. Resistance is Futile. You will be assimilated to add your essence to our own! Prepare to bend over....

Here is part of the article from Publisher's Weekly....

In an email sent to authors Friday, Christina Brashear, publisher of Samhain Publishing, a mostly digital romance publisher, said the publisher will begin to shut down its publishing operations due to a steady decline in e-book sales.

“It’s with the heaviest of hearts and a great sadness I bring you the news of Samhain beginning the process of winding down due to our market share's continuing decline. We’re approaching the point where we cannot sustain our business,” Brashear wrote.

In the letter, Brashear said e-books sales at Samhaim have been declining steadily over the last two years. Attempts to renegotiate terms with Amazon for better placement on their site, “have been met with silence.”

She said the house, which was founded in 2005 and was a pioneering publisher of romance fiction in e-book formats, will layoff most of its staff and freelancers. About five staff employees will remain to wind down publishing operations. Brashear said she will not shut Samhain down immediately, and will continue to publish scheduled titles, sell books, and pay royalties as long as possible to satisfy creditors.

Brashear said royalties will be processed on a normal schedule. She said titles that are completed and ready will be published on schedule; and authors whose titles are not finished will have their rights reverted back to them. Brashear also said while she intends to revert all the rights of all books back to their authors, she cautioned that it will not happen immediately.

This follows the closing of Secret Cravings Publishing and a host of others who've had to close for similar reasons.

I have to admit I along with a few of my fellow romance authors are concerned. We wonder if this is the beginning of the end of small e-publishing houses and will our own respective publishers follow the same suit.